There can’t be anyone among us who gets to winter excited at the prospect of taking unplanned days off work and blitzing their medical aid savings by spending hours in a room full of sick people, aimlessly paging through two year old magazines waiting for the words ‘Doctor will see you now’.
The complications from colds and flu
We love our doctors, they’re great people, but we don’t always want to see them for the same complaints every winter, do we? And yet we trudge in each year with the same old story - the complications from colds and flu that we never see coming like sinusitis, tonsillitis, bronchitis, middle ear infections and pneumonia. Those are generally caused by bacterial infections that set in while we think we’re doing a decent job of fighting off the cold or flu that’s caught us.
Scientific studies
Studies show that up to 20% of flu infections lead to complications. So how can we keep ourselves free of these complications? Being ‘responsibly sick’ is one way. That means listening to your body, getting enough sleep and rest, (honestly the world will keep turning if you stay home in bed for a day or two rather than trying to ‘push through’), staying warm, eating simple foods because a sick body doesn’t want to have to expend energy digesting heavy rich or sugary foods, not exercising if symptoms are below the throat area (like coughing up mucous, muscle aches or fever) and medicating the symptoms appropriately. Be careful of not taking too much paracetamol or ibuprofen to treat colds and flu because studies have shown they have immune suppressing effects and can increase the risk of complications.
Until now, no medicinal product has been shown to prevent the progression of cold and flu infections. Did you notice the ‘until now’? After analysing data from six clinical randomised, controlled studies with a total of 2458 participants, researchers in the Department of Respiratory Medicine & Allergy at the National Heart and Lung Institute from London’s Imperial College recently made a very interesting announcement about A.Vogel's Echinaforce®. Not only does it prevent and treat colds and flu but it also helps to prevent complications and recurring infections.
- Using Echinaforce® reduced the risk of developing complications such as otitis media (middle ear infection), tonsillitis/pharyngitis, sinusitis and bronchitis by approximately 50%.
- And up to 65% of pneumonia cases could be prevented simply by using Echinaforce® at the treatment dosage whilst sick.
- The strongest effects were noted when people used Echinaforce® daily for two to four months.
Recurring infections
Recurring infections are most common in people who are stressed, sleep badly, elderly or who smoke. This group of people average about 5 cold or flu infections each winter. Using Echinaforce® daily was found to reduce the risk of recurring infections by 35%.
Prophylactic use
Again, best effects and a risk reduction by 50% were seen with continuous long term prophylactic use over 2 to 4 months. It makes sense because we know that Echinaforce® regulates the immune system with daily use, helping it to fend off cold and flu viruses before they take hold.
This is the first time the scientific world has seen evidence that Echinaforce® not only prevents the progression of colds and flu but also the common complications and recurring infections.
For Echinaforce® users, ‘Doctor won’t see you this year!’
